Beat Your Writer’s Block: 5 ways to use writing prompts to help get words on a blank page
How do you combat your writer’s block?
Do you push through the sludge of “nothing” until the words can pour out effortlessly, or do stare at a blank page and pray something pops in your head?
For the longest time, I only wrote when inspiration struck, and when it did, it was like the muse plucked me from my body and just wrote the story itself, and while I enjoyed being drunk on the inspiration, the hangover afterwards sucks. Not being able to continue a story is frustrating and often times defeating.
Well, in my own struggle, I learned to embrace a tool all writer’s know and love in order get the “flow” going:
writing prompts
I know I can’t be the only writer who scours Pinterest and collects writing prompts. It’s too much fun!
Many times I will see a prompt and think: Ooooo, my characters could totally be in that situation, or my character would totally say that line!
So I pinned and pinned and pinned prompts for a rainy day, but I wasn’t using them until I realized that those little sparks of inspiration could be the answer to my writer’s block problem.
So I came up with these 5 ways to use them:
1. Use a prompt daily to get the creativity flowing.
This way is pretty basic, but it really works! You randomly select a prompt and start your writing session with it for the first five to ten minutes. Make sure you time yourself! Setting the timer adds a little external pressure to help fan that spark into a flame. I often would use my own characters in the prompt in order to generate an idea or get into the heads of my characters. Then when my time was up, I felt more connected to my story and my characters. I was ready to start the scene I needed to write.
2. Use a prompt to start each chapter.
This one is my favorite! Usually when I pin writing prompts, I like to save them under the boards I keep for the WIP I got the inspiration for, and you should too! Then as you’re outlining, you pull those prompts and start adding them into your outline, tying them to the chapter you think the dialogue or description would best fit. The writing prompt becomes your diving board, and the event in your outline becomes the goal you have to swim to. The spark from the prompt can give you just the right height though to get you started.
3. Use the prompt as a challenge.
This one has become a backup plan for me when I feel like I need to change up my routine. I recommend taking a piece of dialogue from an prompt and trying to find a way to insert it randomly into your scene. The goal is to write the best setup for one of your characters to say it then write how the other characters would react. I’m always surprised where this leads me and my characters. I once used the dialogue prompt: “I’m tired.” I thought that my protagonist would say it to her “broody, bad boy-esque” anti-hero counterpart, but suddenly as I wrote, he beat her to it! He admitted that he was tired and wanted to settle down, which through me for a freaking loop to say the least. I learned a whole new side of this character that wasn’t even my intention. That one revelation fueled my story more than I ever expected.
4. Use the prompt to get to know your characters better.
I did this often when I wasn’t really sure who my supporting characters other than the tropes I had a framework. Use a journal prompt that asks something like “what is your fondest memory?” Make sure to write it from that character’s perspective and see where it leads you! You might be surprised what your characters share with you in your little counseling session.
5. Use the prompt to tell two perspectives of one moment.
Now I know this may sound like a lot more work, but hear me out! This technique can really help you identify if you are utilizing the best perspective for your story. Take a writing prompt and write the scene from one perspective, focusing solely on the thoughts, desires, and actions of the first character in the scene. Then take the opposing character in your scene—the one with the most conflict with the first character—and write it from their perspective. Don’t be afraid to let the second version of the scene be the polar opposite of the first. I suggest this for tone, voice, descriptions, etc. The only thing that should remain the same are the actions and dialogue between the characters. Then read them back-to-back afterwards. You’ll learn something new about your story, I guarantee it!
So this will really help me get past my writer’s block?
YES! I say that though with a catch. You have to actually write still. Sometimes you will still come to your keyboard or your notebook feeling completely drained of creativity that not even a prompt will spark something in you.
That’s okay! You still have to at least try to get some words out though. These prompt techniques are only diving boards. You still have to swim once you are in the water.
And I promise you can! It’s like riding a bike or driving a car. Once you learn how to write, you don’t easily forget how, and you only get better at by practicing.
So give it a try and see what you think! Let me know which technique works for you or if you have other techniques to beat writer’s blooks you’d like to share in the comments. Next week, we’ll be back to talk about research and how channel it into your writing, so don’t forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date!